Andres Iniesta Waiting for New Barcelona Offer, Negotiations Continue

Andres Iniesta is in the midst of negotiating a new contract at Barcelona. His current deal finishes in the summer of 2015, by which time he'll be 31.

That said, I can confirm his representatives are well aware of the interest from Manchester United. United are very keen, but Iniesta's first, second and third choice is still to get everything sorted out with Barcelona.

Iniesta to Man Utd?

Could happenNo chanceSubmit Votevote to see results

Iniesta to Man Utd?

Could happen

22.9%

No chance

77.1%

Total votes: 5,259

It's not true that the relationship between Iniesta and Barca has broken down. The situation is that Barcelona are desperate for him to sign. They have even leaked their wish for a new contract to be agreed in December, as per Metro.

The club have already offered one deal to Iniesta, but he turned that down. There's nothing to read into that—it's just part of the negotiation process.

But Iniesta is not listening to any other offers. He doesn't want to hear anything until he gets a new offer from Barcelona.

Financially, Barca's opening offer wasn't high enough for Iniesta. He wants an amount that reflects his position in world football. Barcelona are willing to make him the second-highest paid player at Camp Nou behind Lionel Messi.

The problem, in a way, is Neymar. The Brazilian's basic salary is around €7 million (euros) a season, but there is also a commission of €40 milion to his father to factor in, which in effect it takes his earnings to something like €15 million (euros)—more details as per AS. He's Barca's highest-paid player right now.

Denis Doyle/Getty Images

Messi is already working on a new contract.

The arrival of Neymar has therefore unbalanced the wage structure at Barca. That has been reflected in the negotiations so far with Iniesta.

Ideally for Iniesta, he'll stay in Barcelona. He has a wife, a young daughter and another baby on the way. He lives in his perfect city, and he wants to stay there.

Having said that, he has a good relationship with Steven Gerrard, and he admires the Premier League very much. He's not listening to offers yet, though. All he's interested in is improving his form and waiting on Barcelona for a new offer.

Have that in mind before anybody assumes that he is leaving the club. Basically it is far too early to talk in those terms. Barcelona are favourite to keep him. Very much so at this stage.